|
On the surface, this seems like an excellent game. Its easy to be drawn to a futurist, post-apocalyptic setting after playing PC games like the Fallout series and watching movies like Mad Max. The book looks good enough with some pretty pictures and does a good job of selling a story, but that's about where it ends.
The game system is seriously flawed. First, the authors experiment with a creative 3D20 system based on attributes to determine difficulty rolls. Each turn is divided into 3 segments. A characters gets one D20 for each segment he spends on an action. A success occurs if the roll is equal to or below the related attribute rating (one or two success required, depending on the action type). While this is an interesting concept (which I have not seen before), it has two flaws. The first one is based on the difficulty settings, which are determined by attributes, leaving too little influence on actual skills (skill points can modify skill rolls, but as my group found out its the attributes that make or break a roll). This means that there is little difference between a character with 2 or 5 points in a skill. The second fault with skill rolls is that the difficulties are calculated in percentages, which need to be converted to a number compatible with a D20 based system. This can be confusing.
The second flaw with the game system is that some rules are too time consuming to be carried out. For example, covering fire and some burst fire rules take way too much. It would have been better if the authors had not attempted to make the system so detailed. Some of the target modifiers for aiming and increasing damage also unbalance the game.
Another flaw resides with the economics of the game. Trading is done in abstract "gambles", with each item having an understood value. Guns and ammunition are expensive. The problem appears after a few challenging encounters as the PCs will be loaded to the teeth with weapons and ammo which is very, very valuable. Some of the costs also seem unrealistic (inconsistent) with what a post-apocalyptic world would be like (i.e. vehicles).
But my biggest gripe is that some rules (assuming you can find them) are not elaborated but simply state that clarifications will be offered in further supplements. This gives the impression that either the game was not developed and tested properly, or someone wants to make a quick bundle.
The highlight of this game is that it does experiment with a new D20 system. If the system is re-worked and seriously play tested, it could have a bright future. The story is not bad and is sufficient to keep players interested, while still giving GMs the flexibility to create customs campaigns.
In the game's current state, I can only suggest buying it if you want to try a new D20 system. It is a valiant attempt at something new, but it did not undergo sufficient testing. At the moment the game is available only in Polish.
|